LP guide for newbies
We have created a basic guide to creating a Let's Play. Just remember that a good LP usually depends on the person along with the methods of recording, etc.. Selecting a Game So, now you have decided to make a LP. The first thing you must do is decide what game to play. This is a tricky decision. If one were to ask twenty seasoned LP'ers what the best sorts of games to LP are, one would likely receive twenty different answers. One of the most important things to keep in mind when picking a game, especially for your first Let's Play, is to pick a game you will enjoy. If it's your first Let's Play, a game you have passionately played at least a couple times will make a much better Let's Play than something you don't enjoy. For your first Let's Play, picking a game you already know by heart will make coming up with commentary for the game much easier for you! Recording Video :Before you begin, you are going to need software and hardware. If you are going to do console games, you will need to purchase a capture card with any additional equipment needed. A popular choice of capture card is the Dazzle DVC 100, which suits most people that don't need to record in HD or simply want to start with something cheap. If you don't plan on doing console games, but rather PC games, then there are many software programs out there that do what you need. Here is a list: * Mirillis Action!: is a solid, feature-packed game recorder and streaming software. Thoughtfully designed and intuitive interface gives users total control over the output video files. Program offers a bunch of unique recording settings like HUD opacity or up to 4K resolution broadcast and enables LIVE streaming to most popular services: YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, Smashcast and more. *D3DGear: D3DGear is very fast video game recording software for PC, it allows user to record video game to HD movie without slowing down game. D3DGear is perfect for LP because it also provides microphone recording feature. This is a paid program, but there is a trial version available. *NVIDIA GeForce Experience: Amazing and free, ShadowPlay allows the recorder to stream to Twitch and record. A recently added feature allows ShadowPlay to record something AFTER the player has performed a stunt, instead of the player manually starting the recording and performing the stunt. *LoiLo Game Recorder: LoiLo Game Recorder is a completely free game capture software for Windows PC. It is extremly easy to use, fast and with minimal performance loss. Additional to the captured game content, other audio (like Skype) is recordable as well. LoiLo Game Recorder comes together with a trial version of the video edit software LoiLoScope. *Fraps: Initially a benchmarking tool, this software records high-quality video of 3D games. However, it is very system-intensive. A demo version is available for free, but it only records for 30 seconds and applies an unsightly watermark onto the video. *Bandicam : A more lightweight alternative to Fraps, Bandicam allows capturing either the entire screen or individual DirectX or OpenGL applications (ie, games) directly, and features a built-in webcam overlay. *DxTory : This program is a lot like Fraps, in that you can record games. The better part about this software is that you can customize it more than Fraps. It runs around the same price as Fraps. *Camtasia: This program can record either your entire screen or a select area of it. It is also very system-intensive and requires a fast computer to avoid slowdown. This is a paid program, but there is a trial version available. *SMRecorder : This program is an easy to use laptop recorder that can record both desktop video and audio in AVI format. You can choose to not just record the screencast but also create a video from webcam and record sound from the attached device(s), e.g. michrophone. *CamStudio : This program can record either your entire screen or a select area of it. It very much like Camtasia but has a 2GB File Size limit on the recording files so for most people, this is not optimal. *Xfire.com: This is not just a video recorder but an all-in-one online gaming utility. It allows players to network with other gamers and gaming clans, record hours played, use a built-in web-browser without exiting a game, and much more. Oh, and it records video, too. It is completely free. Unfortunately, it uses its own video codec which is prone to bugging out inside of video editing programs. It also only works with a few hundred specific games. *ZD Soft Game Recorder: A simple video recorder that does not use up much processing power. *ScreenFlow: A screencasting program for the mac which is considered the 'Fraps' of the mac community. It is able to record desktop video and audio as well as webcam video and microphone audio simultaneously. It also comes with an in-built video editor. A demo version is available with limited features and a watermark. *Some emulators, such as Visual Boy Advance, feature a built-in video recording feature *Hauppauge HD PVR: This is some of the highest quality hardware you can get for recording game footage, particularly for the PS3, 360 and Wii U, and has some great features such as being able record audio from a plugged-in microphone along with the footage and to livestream directly to websites such as Twitch. Relatively inexpensive ($180 at the highest), the newest version (and recommended for Mac users) is the HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition. *Open Broadcast Software: Really good recorder, mainly used for streaming, but can also record videos. Quality is the same as Fraps but it's completly free and files are not too big: a 20-minute video has around 500MB. You can also stream or adjust the quality of your recordings. * Elgato Game Capture HD: Another one of the most powerful capture cards you can get. It costs around £/$150. Unlike the HD PVR, the Elgato has HDMI ports, can record composite and component, and most of all...record PS3 games. The software allows for streaming to Twitch or YouTube and can record live commentary very easily. * SimpleScreenRecorder: Optimal choice for Linux users. * RecordMyDesktop : another straightforward choice for Linux, provided the LPer in question is comfortable with the command line. Unlike SimpleScreenRecorder, the software is typically available from your distribution's repository without the need to add third-party PPAs. ; Q. Alright, I found a recorder that suits my needs. What now? :A: Now that you've found your recorder, you will likely want to get used to how it works. Various tutorials exist on the internet on how to get the best out of your chosen software. When you've gotten the software set up for optimal settings for your set up, you should begin recording. Recording Methods Recording Audio First of all, decide whether you want to do live commentary or post commentary, as it will likely affect your setup. Whichever one you decide, keep a good distance from the microphone, usually good distance would be when you don't hear your own breathing. Move the microphone above or below your mouth. Next thing to find out is whether your video recording tool also records audio. If not, move your speakers close to your microphone so that it picks up the audio. If your video software also records the game's audio, then you may want to consider linking your console, if this is the type of game you are doing, directly to your computer to avoid unwanted sound from being picked up by your microphone. For post commentary, capturing from your TV is fine. If the game audio is desynched with the gameplay, the best piece of software to fix this is VirtualDub, a free piece of software that will synchronize the game audio with the gameplay. A good microphone is essential to the quality of your project, so don't spare resources to buy a decent one! After recording, don't forget to remove noise with a filter that you can find in most audio editors, like Audacity. More Let's Play Advice This playlist has a list of videos that offer useful advice for any new and upcoming Let's Players. The advice ranges from picking a game, working on your commentary, how to record your videos, getting recognition, and more. This video (The Art of the Let's Play) by X shows his process of post-editing a LP episode. Has specially good advice on sound treatment Choosing a Game to Let's Play Category:Tutorials Category:Gaming